He mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa, warm greetings to you all
Last week as our nation observed the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, her example of Manaakitanga is reinforced within us. Manaakitanga includes showing leadership, respect, generosity and care for the people.
Our Prime Minister announced that this Monday 26 September we now have a public holiday to commemorate the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. School will therefore be closed, with the exception of our Year 9 camp (Kiwi/Ruru) staff and students who depart on Monday morning. We extend deep gratitude to those staff and parents who are attending camp despite the unexpected public holiday. If whanau would like to know arrival times back from our Kawau Island Experience, times will be published on our school Facebook page and website.
The Prime Minister also announced that most COVID-19 health and safety requirements have been removed. Household contacts of COVID-19 cases will no longer need to isolate, but instead should undertake a RAT test every day for 5 days. Mask wearing is also no longer strongly recommended. It is delightful to see so many smiling faces again after so long.
Congratulations to all our Year 7/8 students and accompanying staff and parents, who attended the NZ Association of Intermediate and Middle School (AIMS) Games in Tauranga recently. Our students returned to school last week with lifelong memories from their experiences with their peers and from competition, not to mention their achievements of gold, silver and bronze medals. Well done team AJHS. We would like to especially acknowledge our sports faculty for their tremendous work.
We have had over 400 students enrol at AJHS for 2023, and our staff have thoroughly enjoyed meeting students with their parents at our enrollment interviews over the past two weeks. It is especially exciting to see many more of our Year 8 students staying on to complete their 4-year programme with us. There is significant well researched social and academic value and development in our 4-year AJHS experience, specifically supporting the adolescent journey of Year 7-10 students.
Congratulations to our newly elected (or, re-elected) Board of Trustees: Lisa Compton, Samantha Ebel-Brown and Farhad Mehdipour, with our staff representative Lisa Lumsden.
On Wednesday, our school spirit was reflected through our annual ‘Heroes and Villains’ day to raise money for the Child Cancer Foundation. It was a day of imagination, wonderment and laughter, with students and staff dressed in such a creative range of characters. Kamo Intermediate School teachers were visiting during this day, and voiced how special our school community felt when touring around our school, especially with two of our senior leaders dressed as Popeye the Sailor and Wonder Woman!
With one week of Term 3 remaining, we encourage all our students to keep our improved uniform standards high, show and give respect to their teaching and learning, and enjoy the outcomes of their hard work from this term. Enjoy your long weekend ahead everyone.
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini. Success is not the work of one but the work of many.
Take care te whanau.
Cushla Shepherd, Principal / Tumuaki
Albany Junior High School